From a young age, I have been involved in Student Government, always working to better society around me and the lives within the community. Never before have I seen a Student Government as corrupt as the Iowa State Student Government, a sleazy den filled with opportunists and climbers, alongside a few genuinely good people. I joined Student Government to help the people and have consistently been pushed against in these efforts. I continue to run because I know this could be a sound system that effectively helps students rather than a waste of time and space.

Upon winning my election last year, I was greeted with many members’ cold regards and vicious rumors. These people hated that a bull had entered; they rarely had the bravery to approach me and get to know me. This problem of cowardice continued throughout the year, where everyone put on a friendly mask when a fair amount of us hated each other. The people at the top would make decisions without any input from members of the body. Only the chosen few would be allowed to hear about these before they were to happen.

Transparency was a buzzword that few people cared about. Bills were kept from the public and financial records were hidden away in archaic systems. I fought against these things, as I believe transparency is essential in governance, but I was forced to jump through tons of hoops and barrels to do anything. I suspect many others felt similarly, as just four people pass about 90 percent of bills. That being said, four is a large number of senators due to how many have left. Student Government is in shambles, and nobody except the climbers wants to be in the machine.

I hope you gather from this article and from many experiences that Student Government is a waste of time, money and space. To have a system that actually represents students, we would need to tear down this system that does nothing for the people it claims to represent. I surveyed 100 people in the dorms, and only nine approved of Student Government or Inter-Residence Hall Association Council. Shockingly, even Dictator Muammar Gaddafi had a higher approval rating (13 percent), a very damning survey.

Ryan Hurley is a junior in marketing and the president of Iowa State College Republicans.